Step up to ruin your franchise
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by Suckatsports
Who's next in line to ruin their baseball team for the upcoming 10 years, because Alex Rodriguez is on the market! He may be expensive, but no one does a better job than him in ruining franchises, no one. If you'd like to have your team moribund for the next decade with lasting repercussions for the decade after, Boras has all the information in a tidy pamphlet.
This is not the first time such phenomena has arisen, where almost unanimously the best player on the field is the worst player to have. Alex Rodriguez just this past year will no doubt be named the AL MVP, and for good reason. His stats (.314, 54 HR, 156 RBI) are astronomic, but what is he valuable for? The Yankees have done nothing this year that they haven't done in the past four years, and even less than they've done in the years before, that is win in the playoffs. In fact, while it's counter intuitive that a player on a baseball team with production of such enormous numbers both offensively and defensively would hurt a team, it is in fact a reality. Alex Rodriguez is the anti-winner.
It's more than just a trend of Alex Rodriguez to stunt a team's primary goals (post season success), it seems to be his primary function.
During his seven years in Seattle, they made the playoffs three times, and only advancing to the next round with the help of one Junior Griffey. Taken in itself, this doesn't mean much, seeing as how he only broke into the league in '94 and thus is it was only the beginning of his play.
However, the next stop is certainly the most telling. After signing an astronomical and largest contract in sports history, he went on to the Rangers to put up seemingly unspeakable numbers only to have the team win no more than 73 games. In three seasons, he finished no lower than 6th in the MVP voting (twice in the top 2, winning 1), and first in salary, effectively bleeding dry the well that could bring in players to advance the team. The effects of his stay there are still being felt, because after he was traded, the Rangers are still paying a huge portion of his contract. Still bottom feeders the Rangers are slowly creeping their way back into respectability. Ridding themselves of ARod was the key.
The Yankees brought him into their franchise in a move based just as much on his talent as not letting the Red Sox get their hands on him. His numbers in New York need not be mentioned as they have little to no bearing on team success, as do his MVPs (2005, estimate: 2006). What should be mentioned, is that in his time the Yankees have advanced in the playoffs only once (2004) and have continually dropped in winning percentage culminated this year by not winning the division. Not to mention the greatest collapse of all time, losing a three game lead, was participated in by the one and only, golden child of baseball.
Three years, three similar outcomes. His skill at the plate and in the field is unquestioned, but team results surely create some clout. His post-season numbers aren't entirely embarrassing, but one can't remember a game where his hit was timely and important. There is one place that he does help a team, and that's when he leaves. Seattle and Texas picked up 15 and 18 games respectively in the win column a year after he left including a franchise record 116 wins and a trip to the ALDS for the Mariners. Coincidence? I think not. Look for the Yankees to mirror these stats if they don't bring him back.
So who's next? Anyone think they've had too much success lately that would like an albatross around their proverbial team success?
Alex Rodriguez Stats [Baseball Reference]
This post is cross-published from We Suck at Sports.
